


Paintings

by aintweproudriff



Series: Dear Baby [7]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Just a quick oneshot, M/M, Multi, Painting, good parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 04:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13942395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Jack helps Ivy learn to paint, and only gets into a little trouble while doing it.





	Paintings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> If you forgot:  
> Deejay means D-J, short for Dad Jack, Deedee is D-D, short for Dad David, and Crutchie's name is Renny  
> Crutchie's not in this, so we're kinda just going to say that they're on a work trip

“Deejay?” a tiny voice called from the couch. 

Jack sat up in his chair, putting his pen and calculator down. “Yeah honey?”

His daughter put her hands on the cushions of the couch and pulled herself up to look at him over the back of the sofa. Her favorite princess movie, Tangled, played on the television screen for what may have been the third time that day. “You can paint, right?”

“I sure hope so,” he laughed, “or else this museum made a pretty big mistake putting my art in a gallery.” 

“So you’re a good painter?” Ivy asked, and as her head tilted, her little brown ponytail flopped on her face. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty good.”

“Can you show me how to paint, then? Rapunzel's really good at it and I wanna be good too,” she explained, standing up on the seat. 

“I don’t know if I’m as good as Rapunzel,” Jack stood up and stretched his legs. 

“You’re not, Deejay,” she said, shaking her head seriously. “She’s really good.”

“Hey now!” he put his hands on his hips playfully. “Be nice to your dad, or he won’t show you how to paint!”

Ivy giggled at the face he made. “Okay, I’ll be nice. Will you show me how to paint?”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Jack said, and ran over to the couch, picking Ivy up and swinging her over his head. “Should we go paint in the backyard?” He put her down so he could open the door to his art studio. 

“Yes!” she put her arms up for him to pick her up again. 

“Okay, Ivy,” he turned to look at her once they were in the little stuffy room, the sunlight hitting the half-done abandoned paintings strewn around the room. “You’re too big to carry, so can you help me get some stuff out?”

She nodded, and he pointed to a shelf. 

“There should be some watercolors on the bottom shelf, in a white tin. Do you see them?” he asked, packing up his big esal and grabbing an adjustable one from the corner, and then some watercolor paper. 

“Uh-huh!” she pulled them out, sending a few paintbrushes flying. Ivy looked up at her dad, who shrugged, picking up pallets from the floor. 

“I’ll pick those up later,” he assured her. “Uh, in the cup that’s taped to the side of the shelf, there’s some paintbrushes. Can you grab a couple of them?”

She did as she was asked, and Jack filled up a plastic cup with water from the paint-stained sink. 

“Alrighty,” he said. “I think we’re good to head to the yard.”

She followed him out, each of them humming a different song as they went, both of them smiling at the feeling of sun on their skin when they stepped outside. 

“Deejay, what are we gonna paint?”

“What would you like to paint, love?”

She paused for a minute, trying to think it over. “Well, what does Rapunzel paint?”

Jack put his fingers on his chin, mimicking Ivy’s funny ‘thinking pose’. “I think she paints the things around her. Doesn’t she paint like, stars and the lights and stuff?”

“Yeah, she paints the lights a lot,” Ivy said eagerly. 

Jack smiled down at her, and knelt to set up the little esal for her. “Well, do you want to paint the things around you too?”

“Yeah! Like what?”

“Like the backyard?” Jack asked. “You could paint that, right? Get a tree in the picture, the grass, the sky?”

She nodded slowly, surveying her backyard. “I think I could do that,” she said seriously and nodded. “Will you paint the backyard too?”

“Sure, love. And I’ll help you out whenever you need it, okay?” Jack grinned at his daughter, setting up the water cup in between them. 

She dipped the cheap pink paintbrush in the water. “Thanks, Deejay. Uh,” she looked up at him, “how do I start?”

Jack laughed at her. “Here. Should we start by painting the grass?”

He helped her hand mix a yellow and a blue paint that would make a pretty bright green. Never mind that the watercolor set already had a green; she thought it was so surprising and cool when the two colors made a new one. Her amazement at something he considered so menial was adorable, and he knew he wanted her to learn more about it. 

“Okay, now if you drew a line about halfway up the page,” he instructed her, “that’s good! Go ahead and start painting that part in green, and then I’ll help you make it darker where it needs to be dark, okay?”

He started in on his painting, and found his hand breaking his promise to Ivy. His brush disconnected from his brain and started painting a figure of a little girl in a purple dress, her long curly hair pulled away from her face, the light on her dark skin, the lines blurring with one another so that it seemed that she moved, her arm painting something on a canvas that was no longer perfectly white. 

“How do I make it dark where it needs to be dark?” she looked up at him. 

He bent down to help her. “First, should we put some flowers in?”

She nodded. 

“Okay, let’s do that. So what I would do,” he said, washing her brush in the water for her, “is take some of this pink paint and just put little dots in the grass. Not a lot of flowers, maybe like four or five.” He dipped the brush in a pink paint, and dotted the paper with it. “Like that. Can you try?”

She took it from him and painted a little circle on the paper. 

“Good job! A couple more of those and - yep!” He patted her on the back. “Can you wash your brush now?”

She did, and tapped it on the rim of the cup, like she’d seen her Deejay do before. 

“‘Kay, now take just a little brown and put it at the bottom of the page,” Jack helped her do it, but she was doing well on her own. “There you go!” 

Ivy giggled at his praise, and then washed her brush again. “Now what?” she turned to look at Jack. 

“Now should we paint the sky?” he asked, poking her stomach. 

They had started in on mixing just the right shade of blue when they heard the door that connected the house to the yard open. 

“Hello?”

“Deedee!” Ivy yelled, setting her paintbrush down and running to hug David. 

“Hi sweet girl!” Davey picked her up, hugging her tightly to his shoulders. “What are you guys doing out here? Normally I find you inside.”

“We’re painting! Like Rapunzel does!” Ivy squirmed and he put her down. “We’re painting the backyard, see?”

“I do see,” Davey smiled as she took his hand and led him over to the paintings. “They look lovely.”

Jack held out a hand, which Davey took. As Jack leaned in to kiss Davey, he cradled his husband’s cheek in his right hand. 

“Hi, Jack,” Davey whispered when they pulled apart. “How was your day?”

Jack didn’t say anything, just held up the paint-covered hand that he’d used to hold Davey’s face. 

“Did you just-”

“Yeah,” Jack said, giggling. 

“Ivy?” Davey turned to his daughter. “Did your Deejay just get paint on my face?”

Ivy laughed and nodded her head. 

Davey groaned, throwing his head back. “I’m gonna go wash this off.”

“Wait!” Jack yelled before Davey could turn away. “Let me send a picture to Crutchie.”

Davey obliged and made his face angry. His eyes, though, gave way to his smile. Jack pressed send, and Davey left. 

“I love you!” Jack called after his husband, who raised a hand at him. 

“Deejay, let’s keep painting,” Ivy tugged at the bottom of his shirt. 

“Alright. So the sky, right?” he asked, and she picked up her brush.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate any comments or kudos!


End file.
